In recent news, Waymo has issued a recall for its 672 driverless cars to address concerns about driving into telephone poles.
The recall was prompted by an accident on May 21 in Phoenix, Arizona, where a Waymo driverless car collided with a telephone pole in an alley while pulling over to pick up a passenger. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. In response, Waymo has initiated a software update for all 672 of its modified Jaguar I-Pace SUVs to prevent similar incidents in the future.
According to a Waymo spokesperson, the company has already deployed mapping and software updates across its entire fleet, ensuring that current operations are not impacted. Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Administration describe the issue as an “insufficient ability to avoid pole or pole-like permanent objects within the drivable surface,” which poses a risk of collision.
The issue arises in situations where there is no curb or clear road shoulder, such as in alleyways with poles installed within the roadway. To address this, Waymo has updated the software for its driverless vehicles to improve their ability to recognize potential hazards like poles and enhance their mapping capabilities to define road edges more accurately.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), operates driverless taxi services in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This recall underscores the ongoing efforts in the autonomous vehicle industry to prioritize safety and address potential risks in self-driving technology.
